Charles Brown

Parliamentarian

Charles Brown is a co-founder and one of the managing partners of Atelier3 Design (A3), an emerging firm since 2011 specializing in architectural planning and design for educational, healthcare, commercial, and urban design projects. Prior to Atelier3 Design’s inception, Brown acquired over a decade of experience within two St. Louis-based corporate architecture firms working in all aspects of architectural design and planning, from programming development to technical construction document development and construction administration, as well as being a business development manager. Charles Brown is also an adjunct professor in the School of Architecture at Washington University. While serving as the faculty advisor to the Washington University Chapter of NOMA, Brown has instructed five different student teams in seven years to winning national honors in the annual NOMA Student Design Competition. Brown is a native of St. Louis, obtaining both his Bachelors and Masters of Architecture degrees from Washington University.

Why did you join NOMA?

I joined NOMA as a college student in 1995 because there was very little diversity in my academic environment and it was gratifying to step off of the campus and meet veteran African American architects in my own city who I never knew existed through my education. After learning about the organization, I wanted to play an active role in bringing a greater awareness to the contributions of African Americans and other minorities in the design profession. In 2005, I had the privilege of collaborating with other emerging designers and veteran architects to re-establish the professional St. Louis chapter charter. Today, there is still a tremendous need to continue what was started in 1971, fortify our professional network, and increase the pipeline of diversity for the next generation of emerging designers.